“Once Upon a Time There was a Robot” – Stan Lee/Steve Ditko
This one starts with a Professor Mendel Stromm being released from prison after ten years. Apparently, Stromm’s old partner set him up for a fall and he’s been craving revenge ever since. Frederick Foswell knew Stromm in prison and figures there might be a story in his release, but some thug almost kills Foswell for spying on Stromm. Spidey stops him and the guy mentions he was just trying to do Stromm a favour in hopes of a job. Spidey loses Stromm in the city but overhears Foswell talking to Jameson
about him at the Daily Bugle. Peter plants a spider-tracer in Foswell’s hat so he can follow him and heads to ESU, where Gwen is still pissed off at him (yet still attracted to him as well). Stromm builds a cybernetically-controlled robot to get revenge on his ex-partner, starting by wrecking one of his electronics plants. Spider-Man happens along and almost gets killed by the robot before destroying it and taking off. Turns out Stromm’s crooked ex-partner is Norman Osborn, Harry’s dad, and he doesn’t want 
anyone to now how he stole Stromm’s inventions and railroaded him into prison, so he plays dumb with the cops even as he worries about where Stromm will strike next. When Foswell changes to his Patch disguise, Spider-Man loses him (since he doesn’t know Foswell is Patch), but decides to follow Patch instead. Patch gets caught by Stromm’s goon and Spider-Man has to stick a tracer on Stromm’s newest robot so he can save Patch. The two of them are locked away but Spidey soon breaks out to go after the robot, finding it smashing up Norman Osborn’s office. Osborn figures he can get rid of Stromm for good if he plays things right, so he’s pissed off when Spidey shows up to help him. He actually decks Spider-Man and takes off and when
Spidey comes to, he goes after the robot back at Stromm’s hideout. Spider-Man trashes the robot but before Stromm can tell him the truth about his ex-partner, someone tries to shoot him from a high window. The gunman disappears in the few seconds it takes for Spider-Man to reach the window and Stromm dies of an apparent heart attack. Later, we see Norman Osborn was the gunman but we don’t get an explanation as to how he could’ve been at that high window and gotten away so fast. Almost as if he was on some kind of flying device …
So yeah, this is our first real introduction to Norman Osborn and we 
immediately figure out there’s something shady about him. Not only did he cheat his partner and set him up to go to prison, but he tried to kill him. It’s said Stromm dies of a (very convenient) heart attack here, but the art makes it look like he was shot. I’m assuming it was changed because of the Comics Code, which didn’t allow criminal acts to go unpunished back then. But we can assume in our own head-canon that Osborn shot Stromm (he’s seen holding the rifle later) and are left to speculate about how he pulled it off. Of course, we all know he’s the Green Goblin, but nobody knew that then so this must’ve been rather puzzling for readers at the time. Osborn does seem to have super-strength here, knocking Spider-Man out
with one hit from behind (which Spidey assumes was a big chunk of flying debris). I’m not sure why Spidey was following Foswell in the first place, but I guess he still thinks Foswell is hiding something (not suspecting that he’s actually Patch, the cops favourite informant). At the Daily Bugle, we get another proto-Joe Robertson sighting and another new secretary for Jameson … the second one, if you’re counting. Peter and Gwen are still arguing, but it seems to be turning Gwen on since she’s more attracted to Peter every time she sees him.
Amazing Spider-Man #38 (July 1966) – “Just a Guy Name Joe” – Stan Lee/Steve Ditko
This one starts (as the title promises) with an average guy named Joe Smith, who dreams of being a boxer. Unfortunately, he sucks at boxing and wrestling, so his manager gets him a job as an actor (or “actor”) in a monster movie. A goofy accident gives him super-powers, though he doesn’t realize that yet, and he goes home to recover. At the Daily Bugle, Peter runs into Ned Leeds and finds out Betty didn’t leave to marry him. They get into a shoving match before Peter
leaves, hoping Betty is okay. Joe Smith goes back to the set, but the accident that powered him up also made him a little nuts and he takes out all the frustrations over his shitty life on the stunt men he’s fighting. He then rampages out into the streets, where Spider-Man tackles him. Joe is too strong and gets away with a little help from his manager. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn puts out a $20,000 contract on Spider-Man, so every two-bit hood and lowlife in the city is now looking for him. Joe Smith goes back to his 
old gym to kick some ass and Spidey happens by, getting into a fight with Smith while the other boxers try to take Spidey down and claim the reward. Spider-Man ends up literally beating some sense into Smith, or maybe the effects of the accident just wear off. Smith’s manager lets him know the movie studio wants to sign him to a long-term contract so he’s not a nobody anymore. Spider-Man pounds some more thugs out for the reward, using some of his own anger against Ned Leeds to motivate him. He just misses Mary Jane at his house and learns Joe Smith is being touted as the guy who beat Spider-Man.
This is a good issue with some cool fight scenes, although the whole Joe
Smith thing is weird. I guess it’s kind of a parallel with Peter’s early career, with Smith feeling like a nobody (and treated like shit by his peers), then getting a chance to be somebody. Maybe he’s how Peter might’ve turned out if Uncle Ben hadn’t been killed. The reward on Spider-Man is interesting, with all kinds of gangsters coming after him, including a bunch of the guys at the gym. I guess that reinforces the old stereotype about gyms being kind of seedy places and hangouts for underworld characters. We get another Mary Jane sighting (still no face, but she has quite the body) and Jameson 
goes through secretary number three. There’s a weird scene at the university with Peter refusing to join some protesters and Flash and Harry making fun of him. The protesters are written as dilettantes who aren’t really serious in their protests and are just using it as an excuse to cut class. That caused some controversy with readers and I think Stan even got a letter from the SDS complaining about the depiction of the demonstrators.